Space aliens invade Ti!

TICONDEROGA - The Klingon homeworld has been discovered - at Fort Ticonderoga.

The award-winning internet series Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II recently filmed a portion of an on location at historic Fort Ticonderoga.

Klingons began showing up at Fort Ticonderoga last month in search of their rumored homeworld, confusing both visitors and aliens alike. The truth about the fort's alternate-future-reality didn't become apparent, however, until the visitors left and light were thrown at the fort's stone walls and nearby grounds. Earthlings who braved the grounds found themselves facing aliens at every turn, strange buildings from the future, and breathtaking panoramas of alien landscapes that stretched into the night.

Based in Ticonderoga, the Cawley Entertainment Company/Retro Film Studios production films new episodes of the classic Star Trek series from the 1960s and offers them for free on the internet.

With new actors taking on the roles and using museum-quality duplicates of the original sets, after 30 million downloads the Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II series has been named "the most successful internet production" and James Cawley, its senior executive producer, one of "the 10 most important Star Trek fans in history."

"Kitumba," the latest story, called for location shooting on the Klingon homeworld, Qo'nos, and a cast of 36, with 59 extras sporting both classic Klingon makeup and the ridges later seen in the Star Trek feature films.

When the script described Qo'nos as "comprised of rough-hewn stone buildings as if untouched by time immemorial", Ti resident Cawley had no doubts where on 21st century Earth the production would find a "double" for the 23rd century location.

"We have to use Fort Ti," said Cawley, "or we're not doing the episode."

Marci Hall, Fort Ticonderoga's public relations and marketing director, embraced the project the moment she heard about it.